


Han's Written Scribbles

by Hanelli



Series: Han's Drabbles [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: ...yeah right "friend", Al why do you do this to Ivan, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Arthur what the hell why do you have 0 sense of taste, I just gave away a huge part of the plot of Fragments!, I mean half a decade and some change together, I mean ngl I suddenly got inspiration from THAT huge-ass project, Kiku I'm onto you, M/M, Matt and Al are so dead, Mattie is terrified of the water, ORANGE DAY, Poor Lars, Vash hates admitting he's made a big mistake, What Have I Done, and Alfred wants to change that, and it kinda fit, and nobody knows how to get them back... not even Ivan and Lars..., at all, but Kiku lends an ear to his friend, but apparently the problem runs a little deeper than it should, but at the same time it's kinda spoilery, cliffhanger much?, first attempt at nationverse and I bet I sucked, grumpy mer is grumpy, look it just fit okay, mer!Ned is not amused, mistakes were definitely made, mistakes were probably made, ngl Francis does have a point, not enough time to make it longer but you bet it got real bad for him, oh Ivan, pls don't ask why that was the first thing that popped into my head, so Ivan can't handle compliments, so the RA ones are indirect spoilers. WHOOPS, someone has a lot of explaining to do, someone's gotta be used to this by now, thank hell Al's there to help you, that moment when Vash was right all along, they got lost who knows where, to make Vash say that, what did Roderich do, what was I thinking?!, you torture him so much, you're oh so stupid you know that?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-06-22 04:08:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 5,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15573423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanelli/pseuds/Hanelli
Summary: Someone's afraid of the water. Wonder why...(NedCan)





	1. Not the Water!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone's afraid of the water. Wonder why...
> 
> (NedCan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lars - Netherlands

_“No! I don’t want to get in the water!”_

The loud exclamation of distaste echoed in Lars’ ears, and he could only sigh. Here he was, trying to help this ‘human’ get used to being able to swim in the water, but now he seemed to be outright denying it?

 _“Why?”_ he asked Matthew, tilting his head to one side. _“I no understand…”_ he added a few moments later, his tongue still stumbling on the words the other could string together so perfectly.

“It’s just— **because!** ” Matthew stammered out as he sat on the slimy rock in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, now damp from the lapping waves. “I…”

 _“Yes…?”_ the mer could only ask the human, a curious look on his scarred face.

 _ **“…I c—can’t s—swim, that’s why!”**_ Matthew finally admitted a few seconds later, all the color draining from his face.


	2. I Want Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makes you think on what happened between them.
> 
> (SwitzTria)

“I’m going.”

_“Wait—where?!”_

_“Just…somewhere.”_

Vivid green met equally bright purple, and the shorter man turned away, unable to keep looking for longer than a few seconds at the other’s face. While he’d already made up his mind with what he was about to do, the fact of the matter was that Vash had had enough of Roderich’s shenanigans.

And he wanted out _**so bad**_.

 _“Why—why won’t you tell me what’s on your mind?”_ the aristocrat tried again, but the other was already in a rush, hurriedly picking up what little necessities he needed for the trip he was going to be undertaking the moment he stepped outside the door.

“…would I? After what I found out? _After what I saw—you think I would still talk to you after everything? **Wasn’t what I did enough for you?!**_ ”

The angry outburst from the other caught Roderich off-guard—he knew that the other always had his mood swings here and there, but recently he couldn’t fathom why the other was acting like this.

_**“Don’t follow me.”** _

Once he’d picked up his rifle, Vash then swept past a stunned Roderich without a word, throwing the door open before slamming it loudly as he could behind him.

**He’d had enough.**


	3. Incoherent Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn't like showing his emotions much or admitting his mistakes. But sometimes things get to be too much and he gives in anyway.
> 
> (SwitzPan)

Kiku was about to settle in for the night when he heard several sharp knocks from down below. Wondering just who had come calling at this time of the night, he regretfully pulled himself out of the comfortable futon he’d already pretzeled himself into and made his way out of his room, down the stairs, and turned on a light before more insistent knocking beckoned him.

Picking up the pace, he then slid the locks off before seeing that there was a pair of bright-green eyes glaring right up at him, brimming with stubborn; unshed tears.

“You were right. **You were right!** _Th—there, I admit…it,_ ” came the barely-trembling voice of Vash.

Before he could even react at what the other had said, the emotions that he’d tried to keep down and out burst forth like a dam and he threw himself into the other’s arms, letting the unshed emotion escape him. Normally Vash kept everything to himself, but after what he’d witnessed with…with Roderich, there was no more denying it: he’d been utterly and completely played for a fool.

Speechless, the Japanese man then stumbled backwards, allowing the other to step inside. Perhaps they could talk it over some tea…


	4. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sense of disbelief; words from across centuries; yet truth can only be heard in his story.
> 
> (RusAme)

“You may not believe me, but it’s all true.”

A smiling blonde seemingly reaches for the screen and wipes it down, temporarily obscuring the lens that was focused on him.

“I’ve been alive far too long, and now that we’re actually here on Mars, _I guess… I guess it’s time I sat down and share everything I’ve been through_. Vanya, love, I know most of this isn’t going to make sense at first—but if you have my journal, my precious treasure I’ve kept with me…you’ll see that everything I told you about up until this point really happened.”

Alfred lets out a sigh, before taking off his glasses and wiping them on-screen before placing them back on the bridge of his nose.

“Ivan, love. I’ve been alive for several centuries. I witnessed the rise and fall, and the rerising of the planet Earth until the world reunited and decided to terraform Mars because the only place we call home is dying. Or, well, it’s probably dead now considering how many Earthen-centuries have passed since humanity looked to the stars for the guaranteed survival of our race. All through those countless years, I would always find you…or rather, a previous incarnation of you living through the ages. Even now, up here on Mars. _I just… I know it’s you. Your eyes give it away…_ every single lifetime I watched you grow old and die, before finding you again…”

Some shuffling can be heard from the audio, before a very worn-down personal diary of sorts—similar to the one Ivan currently has pressed tightly into his chest—makes its appearance on-screen.

“I know you must be thinking I’m crazy. But I swear, if you have the journal with you. I’m telling nothing but the absolute truth. I’ve journeyed across the Atlantic several times; watched the world burn to ruin and rise again from the ashes, very nearly witnessed one small, almost insignificant country nearly wipe off half of humanity with just one single press of a button…I saw the Towers before and after they fell… I’ve seen so much, Ivan. _**Experienced too much.**_ But then I ask myself: _isn’t it more than enough for me to witness humanity’s rise and fall countless times, enough of a lesson to me for one stupid mistake I made back when I was much younger and naïve?_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may or may not have been inspired by my Nanowrimo project. In fact... the main story this scene appears in, codename: Fragments, is still in the works! Hope it doesn't reveal too much of the plot.


	5. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shock on his features; memories from lifetimes long gone swirl in a storm in his head; yet somewhere in his heart, he knows they're all real.
> 
> (RusAme)

He didn’t understand at all.

Why did Alfred have to leave him here? Alone?

The hands that clutched the well-worn, leather-bound journal began to tremble as Ivan forced himself to take a peek at the cover. While he was in a state of initial disbelief at what he’d seen on the recording, he couldn’t help but think… ** _what if the other was right?_**

How was it possible he knew so much of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed individual yet having only met him in this lifetime? **Was it…was it truly possible?**

That his Fedya really was an immortal long before the Martian colonies became a thing and humanity still lived back on Earth; now reduced to a single burning star in the alien skies above the Red Planet? The planet that, for centuries (or so the blonde had claimed) was just another chunk of rock in their local star system—at least until humanity looked skywards and saw their red neighbor as the next inheritor of life?

Taking a deep breath, he then peeled the journal open very slowly, hoping that it had the answers to so many of his unasked questions…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even done yet.


	6. Why.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment Francis has had enough of Arthur's non-existent taste in interior decorating.
> 
> (FrUk)

“It’s gone.”

_“What? What do you mean, it’s gone?!”_

“I destroyed it.”

Francis didn’t give a shit to Arthur’s reactions at the moment, but he’d definitely had more than enough.

“Seeing that…that monstrosity hanging from our bedroom wall was the last straw, you know. I didn’t know that you had absolutely terrible tastes in tapestries!” Francis muttered under his breath, but loud enough for Arthur to hear. Truth be told, if there was one thing he absolutely couldn’t stand, it was his husband’s horrible, terrifying lack of artistic decoration. Especially when it came to household objects. Like that lurid-looking piece Arthur had found at a flea market a few weeks ago and had proudly hung up on one wall of their bedroom.

“You frog! _I picked that up specifically because I quite liked that design, thank you very much!_ ” Arthur began to stammer, an exasperated tone in his voice. “Why did you get rid of it?!”

“Again, mon amour, it looked _absolutely horrid_. **No life**. _**No spark of creativity**_ ,” Francis countered with a harrumph in his voice, crossing his arms over his chest.

To be honest, the tapestry depicted several scenes that had nothing but hilarious-looking frogs in it, and Francis knew that it was an indirect (or was it direct?) jab at him, and while he’d tolerated Arthur’s insane choices at times, that one was the straw that broke the camel’s back.


	7. Portal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never mess with mirrors. Especially when they start acting like portals.
> 
> (NA brothers)

“Bro… I don’t think we’re in Toronto anymore.”

Matthew looked over to his younger brother, who’d tumbled out after him not too long after he himself had gotten sucked into this strange portal that appeared in one of the mirrors in his room. Wherever this place was, it was heavily wooded… almost like a forest.

“ _You don’t say, Alfie._ But seriously, why did you come after me?! Who’s going to rescue us now?!” he began, exasperated tone in his voice as he turned to face Alfred, holding up his hands in a _‘what the hell were you thinking of’_ gesture before dropping them with a sigh.

“Whatever that thing is, I’m very certain it didn’t appear by complete chance in my bedroom…” he mused a few moments later. Alfred then turned to look at where he’d fallen out of—but the portal had vanished.

And they were both lost in a forest of who-the-hell-knew-where, with no way of contacting their boyfriends and asking for help to get them out of wherever it was they’d ended up!

 _“Well, shit. I don’t have my phone with me!”_  Alfred grumbled as he searched his pockets.

“Neither do I, Alfie. Guess we’re stuck here…” Matthew added with another sigh a few moments later. “We have to find our way back…”


	8. Compliments? Flattery? Maybe both.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone can't take compliments too well. Wonder why, though?
> 
> (RusAme)

“I could get lost looking in your eyes, you know…”

These words were more than enough to make the 6’4 Russian flustered, who immediately tried to hide as much of his face in his scarf as he could manage. He… Ivan really didn’t do so well with compliments, more so if it came from his American boyfriend of several years, who was sitting right across from him.

“B-but Fedya…” he began, his face turning a bright shade of red, _“…y-you know I c-can’t…”_ he continued, his face still going through the various stages of embarrassment because honestly, he wasn’t used to receiving so many flattering, well-meaning compliments all at once!

“Oh shush, Vanya, I mean it. All of it, every single word I said ever since our date began. I’ve never been luckier to meet someone like you,” he continued, his bright-blue gaze still piercing into Ivan’s purple ones.


	9. Confidence?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So someone still has self-esteem issues. But maybe he can help he other gain some confidence...
> 
> (RusAme)

“Honestly, Vanya, I don’t know why you keep putting yourself down. _It’s not normal, y’know?_ ”

Ivan felt a familiar weight settle on his shoulders—he didn’t need to look over to know that it was Alfred who’d sidled up against him. After that really flattering evening out at the restaurant, they’d gone back to Ivan’s penthouse apartment, and were now cuddling beneath the blankets in nothing but their boxer shorts.

“F-Fedya, you must understand… _I’m not that used to getting genuinely complimented by anyone else other than my sisters…_ and the other times I got these ‘compliments’ I didn’t know that they were actually turning them against me. I’ve had… I’ve had a horrible time, y-you know.”

 _“Aw, c’mon, big guy…”_ Alfred continued with a sigh, his hands now running through his boyfriend’s silvery-white hair in an effort to calm the other down. “We’ve been together for what, six, seven years now? A little compliment here and there wouldn’t hurt from time to time, y’know?”

 _“I-I know, Fedya, but…”_ he continued to stammer out, before the slightly smaller, 5’9 American wiggled over and literally parked himself on top of the other.

“Look, Vanya. Ivy. Big guy. Honestly… you shouldn’t keep demeaning yourself…” he said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes before closing the distance with a kiss just as Ivan was about to retort back in the other’s direction.


	10. Don't make me say 'I told you so'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When one goes a little too far and wants some advice from a 'friend', well, this happens.
> 
> (SwitzTria)

_“That’s what you get for being so decadent, you idiot.”_

A shake of the head, before looking over with much disdain at his conversation partner—while he knew that the other had lived what was practically a king’s lifestyle, it was now literally coming to bite him in the ass hard.

“I already told you several times that excessive indulgence was wrong, _but did you listen to me?_ Honestly, when I tell you something’s not right, you should believe me! But all you did was ignore me, and now you call me the moment you’re in deep trouble? You should know better, Roderich. You should’ve known.”

Vash can only shake his head, and sigh. Why did he even agree to meet with the other in the first place, if all he was going to do was get the right to tell the other _‘don’t make me say I told you so’_ right in his face?

“Honestly,” he continued with another shake of his head. _“You’re better than this.”_


	11. Fragmented Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When nightmares and dreams mix together so often it all becomes a mess.
> 
> (Russia, with mentions of his siblings & America)

_They were just that, fragments._

Fragments of memories, of lifetimes long ago that were now swirling altogether in his head. Just how many times had he encountered the one with the bright azure eyes and hair as bright as the sun? Honestly, _he couldn’t remember._ There was something—he really couldn’t put a finger on it, but there was a definite _something_ that always drew him to seek out the other.

Although, for some reason the memories that he could remember the easiest were linked to terrible events that usually resulted in him losing his life. Like that one time he had a dream he was falling from a very high place, racing towards the ground while smoke poured out of the upper floors from the Tower he was trying to escape. He could hear something ringing, before the ground raced up to meet him—and that was the end of that.

Another one involved him being caught in the middle of a horrific train accident while running late to work, he knew it was his turn to speak with ‘Adam’ up on the Red Planet—but circumstances had forced him to delay due to his sisters getting in an emergency of their own.

On and on the various memories swirled, like a mess, with him falling through the cloud of scattered lifetimes—there was even one he couldn’t place that had him screaming at what he knew was his siblings and that very same azure-eyed individual who’d turned up but turned away at the very last second before the abrupt shift in his field of vision hit him and he was decapitated just for trying to keep what was left of his family alive…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another thing from codename: Fragments! I guess this gave away a significant part of the story...


	12. Birth of the Zephyr Wishweaver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If anyone knows of I'm Not your Ordinary Knight (please see the one-shot work) this is a scene from somewhere... a little dire.
> 
> [And may be slightly spoilery to some extent. Yes it'll be a full story at some point!]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prince of the Winds - Lars (Netherlands)  
> Oracle Knight - Matthew  
> Flame Knight - Alfred
> 
> \-----
> 
> 'Rose Oracle' should be obvious without my mentioning it.
> 
> Wishweaver though... feel free to guess!

_“Aren’t you gonna do something?!”_

Alfred’s words cut across the other’s reverie, who’d gone still because of what he was seeing. His Oracle Knight, the only one who was brave enough to protect the last Prince of the Winds, was bleeding out to death in his arms. “Lars, I don’t care if you’re a fucking prince, you have to _**do**_ something! Mattie took that hit for you and all you can do is watch him die?!” the sandy-blonde Flame Knight yelled at him, having taken off his helmet and tossed it aside. “I can’t heal injuries, I’d only make them worse! He swore an oath to you! And _**this**_ is how you’re going to repay him?!”

Blinking for a few moments, the other could only stare at the yelling knight in his face, still waving his sword above his head. “Don’t you have some kind of magical power? **Do something** , _anything_! I don’t care if it’s a shot in the dark, but we can’t let him die! He’s the only one left who can help us get to the bottom of this—“ Alfred continued on his tirade before the sword he was holding fell out of his grip and his hands grabbed both sides of his head.

 _“Oh, fuck, not now! What the hell—“_ he hollered, before his normal voice came to a stop; eventually replaced by another that came from his lips; although Alfred wasn’t the one speaking anymore.

_“You coward! Are you going to let him die? I know you’re in there somewhere! You can literally wish for anything without it backfiring in your face! Or are you just going to stand by again and do nothing, just like the last time before the Nameless One wreaked havoc through our realm?!”_

The second voice that was now talking to the Prince of Winds forced him to look at the Flame Knight—but for some reason the aura radiating around him was much stronger, far older, and very, _very_ angry.

_“Are you going to let the Rose Oracle die again? Wasn’t that your greatest regret, Wishweaver?! Are you?!”_

“But—I don’t kn-know what you’re—“ Lars continued to stammer, before the resonating aura pouring out from Alfred intensified even further; to the point he couldn’t recognize the other.

_“You can do it, Wishweaver! Isn’t that what you wanted?! To keep an eye on this dying world, before the Nameless One ruins everything and claims this world for his own?! I, the Sunstar Efree, **command** you to use one of your wishes! Even if this isn’t the Realm we’d normally call home, wasn’t the agreement to keep the nexus of magic safe from that entity?!”_


	13. Isolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you get sent on a mission to terraform and start the next colony of life on Mars, sometimes things can get a little too boring.
> 
> (America, with mentions of Russia; albeit Russia has a 'different' name.)

The lone figure stared at the display screen, awaiting a call from one planet away—he knew that around this time, at least according to Earth Standard, would be the time that a certain member of the Roscosmos team would call in to check up on ‘Project Adam’, the first long-term inhabitant on the Red Planet.

Alfred had literally volunteered himself for this project between the two largest space agencies in the world; although he’d deliberately chosen to participate under a different name so as to avoid his records being poked around at by both sides as much as possible. _Being immortal sure has its up and downsides…_ he thought to himself, still staring at the blank screen, displaying nothing but his reflection.

He hated being isolated up here; so _alone_. He’d gotten word from the heads over at NASA that another payload was headed his way; and accompanying it was the first female that would help colonize and start the human race up on Mars, but that ship wasn’t arriving—at least for another six or so months. He could only do so much while waiting for the screen to flicker on, and he knew at the same time that the cameras recording every single little thing he did up where he was kept on rolling.

It didn’t take too long before he heard a familiar crackling coming from the screen, and the beginnings of a smile pulled at his face—he certainly hoped it was that hot Russian scientist he’d been blatantly flirting with over the past few conversations they’d had. While he knew that the other’s name was Alexei; the ash-blonde hair and purple eyes betrayed the fact that it was  _his_  Ivan, _his_ ray of sunshine, living another lifetime one planet away.

_And that sucked to all hell._


	14. Forgotten(?) Recollections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivan takes a leap of fate, and reads through the journal that Alfred has left in his care...
> 
> (Russia; with mentions of America, Canada, and the Netherlands)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the Project: Fragments series; other drabbles that belong to this work (and are in this compilation) are:
> 
> Revelation; Doubt; Fragmented Memories; and Isolation.

He couldn’t believe it.

_How was this all even possible?_

While the first few parts of the journal he was looking through contained nothing but notes and sketches in a language he was only beginning to understand the harder he stared at the handwriting, the second part gave way to even more elaborate drawings on the lineless paper—and then the drawings were replaced by what he thought were miniature paintings, but in reality were called ‘pictures’, as he read the scratchy handwriting.

Ivan knew he had to be careful with this precious memento he held in his hands—the paper in the front part of the journal was yellowed down due to age; while the rest was starting to turn that same color as well. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing on all of the sketches—

—all of the sketches had some form or feature that easily gave way to the first few black-and-white and then colored pictures; before realizing that they were all of himself. Not of Alfred, but of Ivan through the lifetimes that the other had lived through.

 _“How is this…even possible,”_ he muttered softly, his fingers touching the pictures as gently as he could manage. While some of them were taken at different time periods, the ones that started from what he could make out as ‘1969, Woodstock’ bore a strong resemblance to himself. Blinking a few times, he then rushed over to where he knew a mirror hung from one of the walls of the little structure he was in and taking a good, hard long look at his reflection before looking at the rest of the colored photographs.

The further forward he went, the more pictures he found—there were quite a lot of pictures in the years 2000 and 2001, mostly labeled with places that he didn’t recognize at first, but instinctively he could recall where they were all taken. For some reason, most of the pictures that were dated in 2001 had not just them, but someone who looked a lot like his Alfred save for the hairstyle and eye color; accompanied by someone he instinctively recognized, though for the life of him he couldn’t recall the other’s name until he found another picture that looked like a wedding ceremony.

While similar to the ceremonies held on the various colonies on the Red Planet, there was something significant scrawled under this one photo that had the four of them all wearing similar-looking clothes, and a caption underneath that said:

_‘April 1, 2001: the day same-sex marriage was legalized in the Netherlands; a.k.a. my bro Mattie and his long-time partner Laurence were legally married. I’m best man, of course!’_

Underneath the caption were some notes, mostly added sometime later due to the ink being different.

_‘July 4, 2002: honestly. Why didn’t I propose to you sooner, Iv? If I did, we could’ve gotten married around the same time they did. Only… I was a coward, a damned coward for taking too long. I still blame myself for letting you go to work on that fateful day…’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read this with Iridescent by Linkin Park as your background music. Have fun figuring out who the song is referring to...


	15. Waking Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attempt at nationverse. References the Great Flood of 1953.
> 
> Lars - Netherlands

The strong rain brought winds with it.

At the same time, it brought fog rolling in from the coast.

However, this _wasn’t_ just any normal kind of rain—it was the kind that poured down so bad, it brought storm surges along with it. Accompanying these storm surges were overwhelming levels of water not even the many levees and dams of the Netherlands could hold back.

The torrential rain pounding on the roof above his head woke up a half-sleepy figure that had been tossing and turning around the bed for a few hours now. _That gut feeling there was something wrong…_ he couldn’t shake it off. Unable to resist the feeling much longer, Lars finally woke up and shoved his bangs out of his face before getting out of bed to grab a glass of water—before a sudden splitting pain forced him down on his knees.

Somehow, somewhere, he knew that there was something bad—and it was affecting him, too.


	16. Orange Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When everything is orange in the Netherlands, how do you blend in?
> 
> As they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
> 
> Lars - Netherlands

**“Dude, really?”**

That was all Alfred could blurt out the moment he saw his brother come out with orange face paint smeared across his cheek. Accompanying the face paint was a not-so-lethal to the eyes orange shirt that had the logo of the Dutch national team on it; along with a pair of khaki shorts.

 _“Alfie, I could say the same to you. Why do you look like a…”_ Matthew blurted out, raising his eyebrows at the outfit his younger brother had put on. Asides from a bright neon-orange armband, he had an obnoxiously-loud traffic-cone orange ‘statement shirt’ that had Dutch words splashed on it; mercifully accompanied by a normal pair of ripped jeans and, hell forbid, the loudest, most orange Chucks he could find.

While the louder blonde didn’t know what the hell it translated into, Matthew had to bite back a smirk because _he_ knew what it said, and he was very certain his boyfriend would have a laugh once the other turned up and saw the message on it. While the younger brother grumbled and adjusted the glasses he had on, the doorbell rang.

 _ **“Alright, alright, I’m coming!”**_ Matthew shouted, having begun to smear on the same orange face paint on his brother’s cheek when the ringing became more and more insistent. Geez, did Lars have to come by so quickly to pick them up for the celebrations they’d be heading off to in the capital?!

The moment Matthew got the door open, he had to blink for a few seconds; seeing as one of the two people standing there was dressed to the literal nines in as much orange-colored clothing as he could manage; while the other one, mercifully, only had a pastel-orange scarf on despite being dressed like a normal tourist.

 _“Hey, Alfie, get your ass movin’, **Ivan’s here!** ”_ he shouted at his younger brother, who was busy trying to get some crackpot imitation of the Star-Spangled Banner flag (but only in orange) on his left cheek.


	17. Secrets in the Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When someone of royalty likes his gardeners shirtless, blonde, and definitely foreign...
> 
> Lars - Netherlands

_**“Oof!”** _

That was what Matthew blurted out the moment he’d been ambushed by his long-time secret boyfriend of so many years in a particularly sheltered section of the gardens he was working in. Never mind if they were going to get into trouble if they got caught, this was one of the few chances they got to have some time alone without anyone finding out what the hell they were doing.

Only the silent greenery bore witness to the particularly hungry way the taller Dutchman began shredding off Matthew’s clothes, tossing them not too far away—and while he was trying to fight his embarrassment and not let it get the better of him, he in turn was also shaking the much taller man out of his so many layers of clothing as well.

 _“Lars, why do you wear so much clothing?”_ he grumbled as he finally whipped the blue-and-white scarf off before starting to wiggle the taller out of the rest of his clothing.

 _“I could ask you the same, Mathijs, why do you wear so little,”_ Lars hissed back as he shook the other out of his clothing in turn and pinned him against one of the bushes once they were both as naked as possible. _“Sorry about that… but we don’t have much time,”_ he added a few seconds later as he leaned in and kissed the gardener as hungrily as he could—he knew they were both going to regret doing this later but they were legitimately running out of time!


	18. Tenderness.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When someone asks an important question yet it takes courage for the other to answer.
> 
> (RusAme)

_“Do you regret this, big guy?”_

Alfred squinted, bleary-eyed, at his companion in bed. He knew that his boyfriend was terribly insecure; especially when it came to interactions under the sheets. How was he supposed to know that Ivan had been a battered man—someone who’d been repeatedly taken advantage of and used mercilessly—before being left high up to dry once his ex was done getting what they wanted from him.

He’d been ever-so-gentle, especially when it came to the coaxing, to the shedding of their clothing, to everything else—he knew that the other was traumatized especially when it came to intimate contact without clothes on. He’d also wondered, despite them being naked and cuddling under the blankets, the other didn’t want to take the bandages off from his neck. While he’d managed to wheedle Ivan to leave the scarf behind, he was a little taken aback when he saw the bandages… _but he knew better than to press the other for more details._

“W—well, Alfred,” the Russian began, clearing his throat slightly, _“…with you, I do not. Th—thank you for taking the time to make me f—feel comfortable, especially with this…”_ he muttered, looking away from the blonde for a few moments. _“I—I know you must be frustrated—“_

“No, no! Not at all, Iv. Definitely not. I… I did find it strange at first, but I made up my mind to wait until you felt comfortable to share a bed with me, and—“ Alfred stammered, scratching the back of his head sheepishly before looking over where Ivan was. Although the other wasn’t facing him for the moment, he could tell that there was something on his mind.

 _“Is… is there something you… y’know… wanna tell me?”_ he asked softly, waiting. Waiting, waiting, until the other eventually turned around to face him. For some strange reason, though, Alfred noticed that the other’s purple eyes looked watery, before he blinked a few moments in order to hide the fact that there were unshed tears that threatened to spill out of them.


	19. Luckless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, someone has to learn how to stop pushing his luck even if he knows he's in for it.
> 
> (FrUk)

_**“You are so going to regret this later, frog!”**_  
  
An almost-naked Arthur stared at his long-time partner of so many years, before trying to cover up as much as he could with his hands as he slammed the latest round of cards down on the table. Of course, since Francis had beaten him in so many rounds of strip poker, the ending was going to be inevitable; yet at the same time Arthur was definitely not going to back down from such a challenge.  
  
Despite the fact that the Englishman’s luck terribly sucked when it came to card games of luck and chance, he still wanted to continue; despite having only won once out of… _how many rounds had they been playing so far?_ He had a tendency to forget, especially when the other came along with wine and managed to get him intoxicated within a few glasses.  
  
 _“Oh, Arthur, you’re no fun,”_ the Frenchman teased, an amused twinkle in his eyes as he swept up the cards and began shuffling them once more; a Cheshire-cat like grin spreading across this face.  
  
“You do know, mon cher, that after this round you’re going to be practically naked, non? _And yet you still want to—_ “ he began before a clearly-inebriated Arthur cut across him and hollered, _**“Just deal the cards already, you pissy frog! I’ll win this next round!”**_  
  
 _So petty._


End file.
